Dinner Rush

Well, this movie certainly gives you an appetite. For that, and for many other reasons, it reminds me of Stanley Tucci's `Bight Night', another culinary gem put on the big screen. Not only do both movies show a great deal of food making and food eating but most importantly both do it beautifully. Both stories also happen in one night. But although `Big Night' features a failing Italian restaurant whose owners (two Italian-American brothers) are trying to revive with one special night, `Dinner Rush' transports us to an already successful and very trendy New York eatery (Italian as well, which confirms that Italian food can be a great inspiration for movie making). The food in `Dinner Rush' is more sophisticated (nouvelle cuisine, Italian style) than the traditional cuisine of `Big Night', and so is the movie itself: compared with the simplicity of the cinematography in Stanley Tucci's film, `Dinner Rush' opens with unfocused shots, saturated colors, unsteady camera work. It all looks very contrived at first and you wish for a more demure and simple atmosphere, the same way Louis Cropa (played by Danny Aiello) disapproved of his son's fussy cuisine, asking for something more nourishing, something that simply smells and tastes good. And that's exactly what you could ask from Bob Giraldi, the director of `Dinner Rush'. But once you get inside Cropa's restaurant, you're drawn to the warmth of the place, the rush of the night, the relationships among the staff and the show that some of the patrons put on (Sandra Bernhard is extremely funny as a wig-wearing food critic and the actor who plays the obnoxious art manager is hysterical). You become fond of characters such as Marti the waitress/artist (great performance by Summer Phoenix), Duncan, the sous-chef/chronic gambler, the English barman with whose cultural knowledge the customers bet and loose their money on, but most of all Louis Croppa, alias Gigi, the owner of the restaurants who's thinking of quitting both the restaurant and his bookmaking business. Danny Aiello is an amazing and under-used actor and with this performance he really hits the mark. He's cool, subtle, wise, tough and gentle. It's simply impossible no to succumb to the charm of this unpretentious film and all you want to do when you leave the cinema is fly to New York and have a true Italian dinner experience in lower Manhattan.

"Dinner Rush" is a 2000 film starring Danny Aiello, Edoardo Ballerini, John Corbett, Polly Draper, Kirk Acevedo, and Sandra Bernhard, directed by Bob Giraldi, and written by Rick Shaughnessy and Brian Kalata. The story concerns a very trendy Soho restaurant owned by Louis Cropa; his son Udo (Ballerini) is the popular chef, who makes nouvelle cuisine with an Italian slant. The place is packed to the rafters every night, though Louis doesn't really approve of these dishes, which are not straight down the line Italian. Udo wants to take over the restaurant but so far, his father is resistant. We learn the history of the place early on -- Louis and his partner were low-level bookies using the restaurant as a front, and when some thugs from Queens wanted a partnership in the restaurant, Louis' partner refused them and is later killed on the street. Louis no longer takes bets and has turned legitimate. However, he can't control Duncan (Acevedo), who works at the restaurant and is a compulsive gambler, now into these same guys for $13,000. On this particular night, the queens thugs come into the restaurant on the invitation of Louis; but he has also invited a police detective (Walt MacPherson) and his wife to be his guests for dinner. What makes this film is the atmosphere, a very typical one for an upscale restaurant with repeat, high profile clientèle. The wait staff is incredibly gracious to some very demanding customers, and there are many perks if you had to wait too long in line or if the boss knows you. The kitchen, however, is like the wild west, with all kinds of screaming and throwing things, and Udo losing his temper. It's all absolutely perfect and really makes you feel as if you're there. The performances are excellent, from Aiello's underplayed, honest performance, to John Corbett relaxing at the bar and talking to a woman there to meet someone who doesn't show, to Ballerini's intense, artistic Udo, proud of his accomplishments, and finally to Aceveda's messed up Duncan, working and trying to listen to a race at the same time, realizing it's another bad bet, and meeting his girlfriend for stolen moments on the fire escape. The end of the film, though I expected some of it, changes the atmosphere drastically in seconds. Truly fantastic film that took me through something I experienced many times while living in New York. Highly recommended.

If you like to flip the channel dexterously between "The Sopranos" and the Food Network, this 2000 movie may be for you. Directed by Bob Giraldi, who is still probably most famous for directing a pre-surgery Michael Jackson in his "Beat It" video, the story is set in one evening almost entirely within the confines of a trendy downtown Manhattan restaurant in the trendy TriBeCa neighborhood. Giraldi succeeds in developing and maintaining a sense of combustible energy when it comes to an upscale restaurant's inner workings. He should know since he is part-owner of several such restaurants of which the one featured, Gigino Trattoria, is one. By comparison, the film feels less assured when it comes to the cross currents of its multiple dramatic elements. Although the movie has an omnibus feel about it, the plot primarily focuses on the inevitable conflicts between Louis, the old-school owner and Udo, his ambitious, hotshot chef son. It helps that Danny Aiello plays Louis in such an economical fashion as he can make his character's melodramatic situation convincing - quitting a bookmaking side-business that got his partner killed and handing over the reigns of the eatery to his son. Screenwriters Rick Shaughnessy and Brian Kalata have crafted a tight script, though there is a cursory feel to the film that gives us a Robert Altman-like hodgepodge of eccentric characters. Their lives are shuffled between courses with some odd casting choices that somehow work, for example, Sandra Bernhard as a harpy food critic in a bad wig and John Corbett as a deceptively casual bar regular. Edoardo Ballerini is not particularly interesting as Udo, but Kirk Acevedo provides jumpy energy to Duncan, the sous-chef whose gambling debt has a domino effect on the rest of the characters. The mob angle is played up with stock characters embodied by Mike McGlone and Alex Corrado as two obvious hoods, and there is even a pretentious dinner party headed by a pompous art gallery owner portrayed with obnoxious languor by Mark Margolis. However, it is the hustle of the food preparation in the kitchen when the film really takes off, in particular, when Udo creates a sensational-looking, customized lobster tower for Bernhard's character. It's surprising that Giraldi has not made more films, but at least he sticks with his obvious passion and comes up with an often-interesting dish that I have to believe Anthony Bourdain would love.

This is a really good film that really captures the atmosphere of a kitchen. Maybe because my parents comes from the catering business, or maybe I just have a thing for good food. The story mixes the emotions of the stress of running a restaurant, to a chef who is also a addicted gambler, the owner fending off the Mob and a killer waiting for his prey. The actors are really good and gives the story a real edge to it. Stories within stories with good character building. It's pure delight watching them unfold. I've seen this twice and it gets better after every viewing.

The only negative comment I could make about this superbly crafted (and casted) movie gem would be the movie's title DINNER RUSH. If I was the producer I would have re-titled the picture "A TABLE JUST FOR YOU". Why this title name change? Because I actually felt like I was sitting in the New York Tribeca area restaurant named Gigino's. What a fantastic job by Director Bob Giraldi to make everyone feel as if they were actually having a meal at this fine Italian eatery. (Apparently Bob Giraldi actually owns the restaurant where the film was shot.) So what makes this movie rate a 9 out of 10? Heck, I would have given it a 10 but the only thing Giraldi could not pull off was to provide me with just one of the hundreds of beautiful meals prepared throughout the movie. I could almost smell and taste the authenticity of the food all the cooks were preparing in the kitchen. mmmmmmmm As for the acting I can't say enough about this all star cast. Danny Aiello, a personal thank you for bringing the character of Louis Cropa to life. As the owner of Gigino's, Louis Cropa loses his business partner early in the movie as a result of a cold blooded murder. Thus setting the stage for the criminal element to demand a table at Gigino's with the intent to extort a big piece of the ownership away from Louis Cropa the sole survivor owner. Also wonderfully cast as Louis's son and his head chef Udo, is Edoardo Ballerini. Controversy and tension between father and son plays out due to the head chef's menu choices. Udo prefers to wow his dinner guests with flare and presentation whereas Udo's father Louis recognizes the traditional fare of tomato sauce and meatballs which made his restaurant a mainstay in the Tribeca area. Also coming between Udo and his father Louis, is the Sous Chef named Duncan, who is a habitual gambler, played to perfection by Kirk Acevedo. His performance stands out because of the challenges he faces between mentoring some of the new chefs, preparing the fabulous meals he is known for, his relationship with the hostess who he loves, and the demons that keep him gambling well above his means to pay his debt to the gangsters who are sitting upstairs waiting to devour more than just their freebie nine course dinner. There are so many great characters in this film, too many to mention. The ending of the film is one of the best I have seen. I would hate it if someone spoiled it for me so suffice to say the ending "is a dessert best served cold." This movie rates a 9 out of 10, but if Giraldi brings me a meal, I will give it a 10. Bon appetite! Enjoy!

'Dinner Rush' (can someone explain me the title?) belongs to a genre that had some remarkable successes in the last few years - the restaurant drama. Yes, there is such a genre, and it had a few highs - especially in the Japanese and Taiwanese cinema. This one is located in Manhattan, in an expensive Italian restaurant. Almost all the action happens in one evening, which may be the result of an adaptation of a play (just guessing). A Mafia story, and a multitude of interesting and generally well articulated characters interfere. However, the whole story is never interesting and compelling enough, and while enjoying the good acting I was left with a feeling of lack of consistency. The action was not interesting enough, the directing was not stylish enough, and even the food did not seem tasty enough to justify an evening to this movie. 7/10 on my personal scale.

It was an unusual film about the things that happened in a busy Italian restaurant in America in just one night. Things that happened include some cocky customers criticising the decoration of the restaurant; one of the cook being a pathological gambler and lost a lot of money; the chief chef wanted a share of the restaurant from the owner; a food commentator coming to the restaurant for food; a guy that earned money by answering difficult questions; the restaurant suddenly lost the power supply and finally, the murder of two gangsters. Although the pacing of this film was not slow and the scenes were colourful, I did not like this film. I thought that the film was unusual in the sense that it only talked about the events in one night, more like a cross-sectional profile of the restaurant, instead of a longitudinal profile of the restaurant as other *normal* films would do. However, the result of this film was a mess. The film talked about events happening at this table and then suddenly talked about unrelated events at another table. The result was that the film was a bunch of unrelated footage being joined together for no reason. I found it hard to understand why anyone would make a film like this. The story was fragmented and incoherent. The acting was mediocre. The worst of all is that there were so little attention paid to the beauty of cookery. There was only one scene when we know that the chief chef was interested in cooking. In the other scenes he only bothered about when he would become the owner. The only beneficial thing I had in watching this film was that I learned some trivial general knowledge in the scenes when the man who knew everything answers the questions that the customers challenged him. In short, I would not recommend anyone to see this film. Even though it was innovative to make a cross sectional film, the result was a mess. I found this film bad and senseless.

Excellent filmmaking and acting meshed so fine. Great character study of people too. Danny Aiello is wonderful as usual. Eduardo Ballerini ("Udo"), slammed such as impression on me! And Summer Phoenix is AMAZING as the patient but put upon waitress Marti. And I loved/hated the art critic jerk. Sandra Bernhardt as usual, a fun to watch bi*ch. I applauded John Corbett's character.As for the chefs' domain, the pace and stress in the kitchen's so palpable. (As someone who once got canned after 2 days in a nursing home kitchen of all places, I so appreciate the stress they endure!) Screw any mobster's presence, if I lived in NY, I'd wanna go down right now to a Tribeca restaurant like this after seeing Dinner Rush!

"Dinner Rush" will inevitably be compared to "Big Night," and other food preparation/restaurant movies, but I think it holds its own as a delicious slice of one night of New York life. As one character plotzes: "When did eating out become theater?" The wonderful, winsome multi-ethnic ensemble of mostly New York actors --many born in Brooklyn according to the IMDb--who have done a lot of TV work are clearly enjoying making a movie as a coordinated team. Danny Aiello has his best, and somewhat similar, role since "City Hall." Many of the references may go over the heads of those West of the Hudson or East of the East River, whether to Tribeca (as a newly trendy neighborhood) or Danny Meyer (restaurant entrepreneur). Or even the digs at Queens as the home of mobsters, which were greeted by silence by the Queens audience I saw it with. The upstairs/downstairs of the kitchen scrambles vs. the dining pleasures and everyone's personal spices are lots of fun. The actors playing obnoxious customers, like Sandra Bernhard, do so with relish but not overplayed. Keep your palate clear by not looking at the ad campaign or reading the reviews, as I think they give the plot away and I was totally surprised by the ending, er, the dessert. (originally written 9/29/2001)

This is really a hidden gem that should have had a major impact at the cinemas everywhere. It truly is a loss to anyone who misses it. The characters are charming, obnoxious, familiar, unexpected and with a great many stereotypes this offers a fascinating mix played out at a weird and wonderful pace that switches easily between relaxed and frantic. The character gallery on its own is reason to see this film but the various tracks of the story offers added value not seen as comfortably intertwined in other films for many years. The stories are steered by an amazing screenplay based on non-stop dialogue that places you right at the centre of affairs, or indeed inside the restaurant where 90% of the film is set. If you enjoy the witty repartee of Smoke or Clerks (although nowhere near as vulgar) then you must see this film. Danny Aiello is brilliant, so are the majority of the not so well known cast and the supporting role of John Corbett offers a new perspective on an otherwise strong stereotype, almost worth the ticket price itself.